Not possibly....
"Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," the statement said. "Rather than continue with the process under the Program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter."

"Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution" - Albert Einstein

I think it's far more likely the Reds will win the NL Central than the Cards. With the loss of Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals pitching rotation is probably not good enough to carry them through the regular season. I am open to arguments as to how they've improved enough from last year to make them better than the Reds.
I think the Reds probably still feel the sting of getting swept, including the no-hitter, in the playoffs last year despite winning their division. That should provide some motivation, especially as their younger players slowly become veterans.Disclaimer: Despite my location, I am a Brewers fan through and through. That context is required so you can understand how painful this post was for me to write.

Well, the Cards have issues, but it isn't the rotation. Rasmus, Pujols and Holliday are going to need to be pretty awesome to make up for the general lack of offense everywhere else. And the jig is probably up on Franklin as the closer. But I think their bullpen is strong enough to let Motte step into the closer's roll. But it may take LaRussa a long time to make that move.

Garcia threw a 4 hit shutout to open the season, making me believe his sub 3.00 ERA from his rookie season was not a fluke. Westbrook is a solid #3, and Lohse should be fine for #4. But the real help comes from McLellen, who seems like he might be Duncan's next success story.

Honestly, I like their chances. I don't see anyone running away with the division. The Reds were smoke and mirrors last year. They didn't win the division, the Cardinals rolled over and let them have it. Their W-L against teams with winning records was pretty pathetic, and it was clear to everyone that they were going to get rolled out of the playoffs quickly.

I really like the Brewers, to be honest.

Henry Standing Bear: It is a beautiful day at the Red Pony and continual soiree.

Castiel: I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave.

Not possibly....
"Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," the statement said. "Rather than continue with the process under the Program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter."

Not possibly....
"Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," the statement said. "Rather than continue with the process under the Program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter."

I've bought directly from the park before but I'd like a better deal this time around. Is Stubhub a good option? Or scalpers outside the park? Educate me!

Best deal is to wait until after the game has started, and then catch the scalper dumping.

Stubhub won't be cheaper, but you might find better seats than going to the game.

For Cardinal games, I often just use their website and pick them up at Will Call. You can actually find some pretty good deals at some teams' web sites. The Cardinals have some deals where they have $5 tickets for weekday games.

Henry Standing Bear: It is a beautiful day at the Red Pony and continual soiree.

Castiel: I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave.

Lookslike the Orioles are heading for .500: able to beat okay teams, sometimes able to beat good teams and able to beat bad teams. A recipe for .500 unless their hitting picks up, but .500 is better than, oh, the past decade.

I'm a believer.

NSMike wrote:

How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.

I do. I think it's worth it to watch my team (Brewers) since I'm out of market these days. It's unlikely I'd watch games on the TV even if I was in market since there's no way Mrs. Phish would give up prime time TV so I can watch a game.
It's nice too when there are afternoon games and I can put one on in the background while I work.
The only downside is the blackout policy. I can't watch the Brewers on mlb.tv when they're playing here or when the Reds are in Milwaukee. I can't watch weekend games if they're on network TV.
If you're more interested in watching a ton of out of market games, this is a great deal. I also really like the full listing of archived games, so if I miss a good one I can watch it at my convenience. I wish the NFL did something like this. I'd rather spend my money on a service like this instead of Sunday Ticket.

MyBrainHz wrote:

Then the largest of them spake, saying, "WOE UNTO THE ENTIRE TEAM, WHO ART BABIES!"

I do. I think it's worth it to watch my team (Brewers) since I'm out of market these days. It's unlikely I'd watch games on the TV even if I was in market since there's no way Mrs. Phish would give up prime time TV so I can watch a game.
It's nice too when there are afternoon games and I can put one on in the background while I work.
The only downside is the blackout policy. I can't watch the Brewers on mlb.tv when they're playing here or when the Reds are in Milwaukee. I can't watch weekend games if they're on network TV.
If you're more interested in watching a ton of out of market games, this is a great deal. I also really like the full listing of archived games, so if I miss a good one I can watch it at my convenience. I wish the NFL did something like this. I'd rather spend my money on a service like this instead of Sunday Ticket.

The NFL does do something similar (I think it's called NFL Rewind), which lets you watch every game the day after it is played. It's not quite as good as MLB.tv since you can't watch live games, but the video quality is a little better and it's only like 50 bucks for the season. No blackouts, either.

Timmy had a no-no going into the 7th, but I could have sworn Kuip mentioned something about it back in the 4th, thus putting the hex on.

Edit: And Nate Schierholtz hit a homer yesterday onto the 3rd deck of Coors Field...landing ten feet from his brother.

It's my fault, actually. I picked up the iPad after dinner and looked at the MLB At Bat app, and saw that Lincecum had the no-hitter going in the seventh. I then brought up the live feed of the game while Carlos Gonzalez was up. So when Gonzalez got the hit, I pretty much knew I was the jinx.

Henry Standing Bear: It is a beautiful day at the Red Pony and continual soiree.

Castiel: I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave.

Definitely worth it if you're either out of market or don't mind watching the games delayed by a few hours. You can also use a proxy to bypass the blackout restrictions, but in my experience that's more hassle than it's worth. The service itself is pretty great. It's rough during the first few weeks of the season when everyone is watching a ton of games because they're happy that baseball is back on. But by this point, the traffic has tailed off enough that I get a consistent HD image on my HTPC. A lot of people also rave about the PS3 client, but I can't get a consistent enough picture for me to ever choose it over the HTPC that's sitting right beside it.

I'm pretty meh on baseball, but going to a game is still fun. My dad's bday was last week and he came to town for a week, so we got him some Rays tickets and took him to the game Thurs night against the twins. You know the one, where the Rays were behind the whole game until they scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th to tie it. And then gave up a run in the top of the 10th, but then Damon hit a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 10th to win it.

Really great night, couldn't have picked a better game. Although they did do nearly the same thing to the Twins on Sat night, with a comeback from down 2 in the bottom of the the 9th, Damon the hero again.

So I guess I'm a casual Rays fan, living within an hour of them now. And as such a casual observer, I notice that everyone said Boston was going to the World Series just a few weeks ago and they are somehow down at the bottom of our division now? Anyway, enjoy the next hundred and whatever games... man this season is too long.